SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
After a great birthday party, get-together for KchFLA in FWB; SeaYoda, GLENFWB, Tracy, KchFLA(surface support due to ear issues), and I headed out to the Destin Jetties to dive the high tide at 8PM. It would be GLEN's and Tracy's first night dives to date with excellent water conditions. Air temps in the mid-low 50sF and water temps around 70F. Water visibility was easily 25-30', probably more, but thats as far as our lights were shining. Current wasn't a big issue, but it was present near the point. The topography of the bottom of the channel has changed quite a bit, the entire shell bed and the far anchor are now covered by a sandbar, leaving the jetties jutting west and just rounding off for you to follow back around - making for a much shorter divesite. Despite the chilly waters, fish were still present and in abundance. We saw several stone crabs and arrow crabs. Anenomes were everywhere. Porgies, bluefish, catfish, doctorfish, cowfish, puffers, lizardfish, several nice flounder, a juvy batfish, damsels, grouper, seabass, and a seahorse - surely lots more were present as well. I hit a max depth of 54' for a dive lasting 41 minutes before everyone else emptied their tanks :11doh: Great dive, but a hellova chilly walk back to the car. Finished the night off with some cold beer at Hooters. SeaYoda brought a camera, hound him for pics!
Woke up bright and early Sunday morning and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast at the Best Western in De Funiak Springs(it dropped into the 30sF and I didn't feel like camping
). Made it to Morrison by 8AM to meet with Tracy and Glen for a spring dive. We knew the water levels were high, but we were hoping for visibility to open up on the bottom as it has in the past. Water levels at 9'. No such luck. Light was lost completely at 10' depth and visibility dropped from ~6" to 2" to nill when I slammed into a muddy bottom LOL. I managed to find the rope from the platform to the tree over the funnel that dropped down to the cavern entrance. Dropped below the tree a little bit with no sign of clearing visibility. Turned back as I didn't run a reel and didn't want to risk accidently enter the shallow cavern which has no flow to clear it of the tannic/runoff intrusion. Surely the lower cavern would have been clear, but with no ambient light to mark the cavern entrance from inside, it would have technically been a cave dive. I hit a max depth of only 34' for a duration of ~5min(LOL). Water temps ~68F with air temps in the 40sF(?). Chalk one up to experience and expect pics to follow later on
We decided to head to Henderson State Park(Destin, FL) to investigate a rumor of a wreck newly discovered off a sandbar. Information was incorrect and the wreck lies off Santa Rosa Island, sorta off the beaches under USAF jurisdiction. Not easily accessed by beach without a long walk with dive gear.
Glen called it a day and Tracy and I headed to Pensacola Beach Reef to finally get a dive in for the day. Surf was flat and water was clear despite the low tide off of Pensacola Beach. Wind kicked out of the north making the air temps ~60F feel much colder. We headed into the water and made way to our dive site, which consists of pylons and rubble from the old pier. Lots of fish covered the debri, porgys, silver perch, doctorfish, damsels, sandfish, lizardfish, puffers, puffins, seabass, and one big bad jewfish that made every bit of 100lbs. The Goliath visited us a few times and let us get pretty close without jetting away. We often got within 3-4' of the big fish. Water temps around 70F, with a dive lasting 65 minutes hitting a max depth of 19'. Despite being shut out on our first two attempts at diving during the day, we finally got a great dive in. Capped it off with some lunch and a pitcher of Yuengling at Hooters.
Woke up bright and early Sunday morning and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast at the Best Western in De Funiak Springs(it dropped into the 30sF and I didn't feel like camping
). Made it to Morrison by 8AM to meet with Tracy and Glen for a spring dive. We knew the water levels were high, but we were hoping for visibility to open up on the bottom as it has in the past. Water levels at 9'. No such luck. Light was lost completely at 10' depth and visibility dropped from ~6" to 2" to nill when I slammed into a muddy bottom LOL. I managed to find the rope from the platform to the tree over the funnel that dropped down to the cavern entrance. Dropped below the tree a little bit with no sign of clearing visibility. Turned back as I didn't run a reel and didn't want to risk accidently enter the shallow cavern which has no flow to clear it of the tannic/runoff intrusion. Surely the lower cavern would have been clear, but with no ambient light to mark the cavern entrance from inside, it would have technically been a cave dive. I hit a max depth of only 34' for a duration of ~5min(LOL). Water temps ~68F with air temps in the 40sF(?). Chalk one up to experience and expect pics to follow later on We decided to head to Henderson State Park(Destin, FL) to investigate a rumor of a wreck newly discovered off a sandbar. Information was incorrect and the wreck lies off Santa Rosa Island, sorta off the beaches under USAF jurisdiction. Not easily accessed by beach without a long walk with dive gear.
Glen called it a day and Tracy and I headed to Pensacola Beach Reef to finally get a dive in for the day. Surf was flat and water was clear despite the low tide off of Pensacola Beach. Wind kicked out of the north making the air temps ~60F feel much colder. We headed into the water and made way to our dive site, which consists of pylons and rubble from the old pier. Lots of fish covered the debri, porgys, silver perch, doctorfish, damsels, sandfish, lizardfish, puffers, puffins, seabass, and one big bad jewfish that made every bit of 100lbs. The Goliath visited us a few times and let us get pretty close without jetting away. We often got within 3-4' of the big fish. Water temps around 70F, with a dive lasting 65 minutes hitting a max depth of 19'. Despite being shut out on our first two attempts at diving during the day, we finally got a great dive in. Capped it off with some lunch and a pitcher of Yuengling at Hooters.
